Genuine Faith

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,  who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: 1 Peter 1:1-2
   
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

The humility of the Apostles as compared to the magnification of our own offices always strikes me when I begin to read a new epistle. Peter was Peter, he was also an apostle of Jesus Christ. The office that matter to Peter was not Pope but Messiah and he never confused the two. He knew he was Peter and he knew Jesus was Messiah. He identifies his audience and then sets his eyes on the sovereignty of God and the obedience required of men. Peter viewed that obedience as applying from new birth to death. In regards to where sovereignty ends and free will begins this is a mystery that belongs to God. When preaching the scriptures magnify sovereignty when God does and do the same with free will and you will not injure the scriptures or your brother.
My concern in writing is the sanctification of the body of Christ that comes from obedience to the commands contained in his word. Grace and peace can not be found apart from obedience and you can not obey unless you are at peace and surrender to his grace. That surrender is like a marriage vow, it applies until death do you part. Many scriptures read and “he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,  1 Peter 1: 3-4

The modern church is very concerned about how to apply the scriptures to their lives and rightly so. One of the best study Bibles on the market is called the “Life Application Bible, but no saint of God will live life correctly in this life until he is overwhelmed by the thought of the next life. What we really need is a “Death Application Bible.” My parents would be married 69 years today. My mother is 90 in a few short weeks. They did not have a marriage made in heaven but they knew heaven would evaluate their marriage. Their answer to the question of divorce was simple. “We made a vow, until death do we part” Those words reflect and understanding that heaven records our words and our lives. It reflects and understanding that we are building treasure in heaven that “never perishes, spoils or fades”. It is built on the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that practically effects our live by demonstrating the temporary nature of death. If we know that death is temporary and life is eternal we will live in that truth. Knowing what is true and living like it is true is what sanctification is!

 “who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” 1 Peter 1: 5:6

The evangelical church spends a great deal of time and energy thinking and writing about the “last time” My theology around this issue as a child was simplified with the words. “Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again.” Nobody knows the day of his coming. There are circumstances that we can observe and consider but we simply need to know he is coming. When I am confident of that truth it will carry me through many sufferings and trials. For my parents who lived out their adolescents in the depression, their twenties in the midst of war, their thirties in the recovery of the wounds from that war, trial was a constant.

The trials you experience may be very different from the ones that my parents experienced. Some of you are reading these messages in poor and isolated places. A real faith can carry you through anything. The scriptures answer our trial not in words but with a person. Jesus the Messiah , Peter's Jesus, Paul's Jesus and your Jesus too if you believe. Paul wrote in Romans 8: 34-36 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:   “For your sake we face death all day long;    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” The Apostles lived life with the reality of death on their minds. This is not morbid. It is the simple acknowledgment of what is true. We would be wise to follow their example.

The reasons we face trial is set out in the next verse. “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  1 Peter 1:7

Whatever generation you study, whatever geography you may find yourself placed in remember that the Lord is refining you. His desire is that you will come to know that you have a purpose and he wants you to live out that purpose in faith. This is a reality we as believers need to understand. The Lord does not need to prove your faith to him, he knows the level of your faith. He is proven the genuineness of our faith to us. When we believe God through one trail the next becomes easier. We then are able to lead others through trails. 2 Corinthians 1: 2-4 contains this incredible words.  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” If we experience the comfort of God in one trail it says that we can provide comfort to others in any trial.

“no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.' 1 Corinthians 10:13 For many the escape is martyrdom, but for most of us it will be living Godly in our closest relationships with our wife and our children. My parents did. We would be wise to consider the ancient path they followed and live life like we are dieing.